175 local employees will help beneficiaries nationwide
UNION CITY – U.S. Rep. John Tanner applauded Monday’s announcement that Jackson will be home to a new teleservice center to process calls from Social Security beneficiaries nationwide. The Jackson teleservice center will employ about 175 Tennessee workers.
“This will be the first new Social Security teleservice center in more than a decade, and it will be a major benefit to our area’s economic development,” said Tanner, Chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security. “Tennessee workers will now be on the front line to help Social Security beneficiaries from Tennessee and across the country seeking assistance with this important program.”
Tanner joined Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, when he made the announcement Monday in Union City. They also toured the Union City Social Security Office, which recently moved to a new facility after 36 years of operations. The Union City office serves more than 73,000 Social Security beneficiaries in Lake, Obion and Weakley counties.
Social Security is facing an unprecedented wave of people needing our services as baby boomers retire,” Commissioner Astrue said. “Response times have been improving significantly, and the new Jackson TSC will help us provide even more timely service to the 60 million Americans who call our toll-free number each year.”
The Jackson office will be well-situated to field calls from the Eastern and Central time zones. More than two-thirds of the calls to Social Security’s 800 number currently come from those two time zones, according to the Social Security Administration.
The General Services Administration (GSA) will facilitate the process for opening the new facility, which normally takes 18-24 months.
About Congressman John Tanner
Tanner, a founding member of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats, represents the 8th Congressional district in West and Middle Tennessee. He serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, where he chairs the Social Security Subcommittee, and on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He also chairs the U.S. delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and is serving a two-year term as NATO Parliamentary Assembly President.
